CLARION, PA. Kennedy Christian puts end to Elk County's win streak

Foul trouble didn't stop the Golden Eagles from advancing in the PIAA tournament.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CLARION, Pa. -- Streaks are made to be broken.
Friday night at Waldo S. Tippen gymnasium, that's what happened to the one belonging to Elk County Christian.
Coming into the game, the Crusaders had posted 29 straight wins.
However, after 32 minutes of upbeat basketball, the Kennedy Christian High boys basketball team turned back Elk County Christian 64-48 in the third round of the PIAA Class A state playoffs.
The Golden Eagles (25-5) will meet Duquesne in the Western finals Tuesday at a time and place to be announced. The winner of that game will play next weekend in Hershey for the state title.
Coming together: "It was just a total team effort under adverse conditions," Kennedy Christian coach Joe Votino said. "This is a very tough place to play. They played six games here and we couldn't even get a practice here."
There was good and bad news for the Golden Eagles in the opening period.
The good news was that Kennedy, led by the sharpshooting of Dan McElhinny, scored the first 10 points to grab a 16-5 lead.
The bad news was that Gary Satterwhite and Keenan Christiansen both picked up a pair of fouls in the opening four minutes and spent a lot of time on the bench.
"We [won] with half of the team in four trouble," Votino said. "That just shows you how strong our bench is and how strong our team is. We are really together and we have molded so much as a team."
As for his team winning its 30th straight post-season game, Votino said, "I don't [care]. But as for getting to the Western final, it's a different story. I love being in the Western finals. It is my favorite game."
With Satterwhite and Christiansen in foul trouble, it was time for the bench to do its thing.
"Phil Doyle, Sean Christiansen -- what can you say about them?" Votino asked. "Our starting five did great, but Phil came in and played his butt off. Sean hit a big three when they were coming back and Nick George was unbelievable defensively."
Leaders: McElhinny led the way with 16, Satterwhite finished with 14, Keenan Christian came in with 11 and Nolan Reimold had 10.
For Elk County (29-1), A.J.. Straub led all scorers with 29 points.
"McElhinny is just unbelievable," Votino said. "He came out smoking and really got us going."
After trailing by 17 points (31-14) at the break, the Crusaders battled back to cut the deficit to single digits several times in the third period before Kennedy Christian again went to work offensively to stretch its lead back to the 15-20 point range.
"I thought the game could have gotten away from us," said Votino about Elk County's run. He [Straub] got hot and we had to make a change defensively.
"Nolan is a great defensive player and he did the job," Votino said. "I knew it was going to be like this because our fans were ready, their fans were ready and both teams were ready."